Is There an Angelic Protection of Infants in the Womb?
Key Concept: Through celestial angels the Lord cares for the feeding and development of infants in the womb (Arcana Coelestia 5052).
The Lord insinuates conjugial love through the inmost heaven, the angels of which are in peace beyond all others. Peace in the heavens may be compared to springtime in the world, which renders all things joyous, for in its origin peace is essentially celestial. The angels of the inmost heaven are the wisest of all, and from their innocence they appear to others as infants, for they love infants much more than do their fathers and mothers. They are present with infants in the womb, and through them the Lord cares for the feeding and full development of the infants therein; thus they have charge over those who are with child (Arcana Coelestia 5052).
There are also kidneys called the subsidiary kidneys, or renal capsules. Their function is to secrete not so much the serum as the blood itself, and to transmit the purer blood toward the heart by a short circuit, and thus prevent the spermatic vessels, which are near, from carrying off all the purer blood. But these organs perform their main work in embryos, and also in newborn infants. It is chaste virgins who constitute this province in the Grand Man: prone to anxieties, and fearful of being disturbed, they lie quiet at the lower left side of the body. If there is any thought about heaven, or about a change of their state, they become anxious and sigh, as I have several times been given plainly to feel. When I was led to think about infants, they felt great comfort and inward joy, which they frankly confessed; and when there was any thought that had nothing heavenly in it, they were distressed. Their anxiety comes chiefly from their being prone to keep their thoughts fixed on one subject, and not to dispel anxious feelings by variety. The reason why they belong to this province is that in this way they keep another's lower mind fixed on certain thoughts, the result being that such things arise and show themselves as cohere in a series, and as are to be drawn away, or from which the man is to be purified. In this way also interior things lie in plainer view to the angels; for when such things as obscure and turn away the thoughts are removed, there results a clearer insight and influx (Arcana Coelestia 5391).
It is by means of the inmost heaven that the Lord insinuates love truly conjugial, the beginning and origin of which is from the inmost heaven; it then [proceeds] through the medium of the lower heavens. Hence also comes storge, for the celestial angels of the inmost heaven love infants far more than the parents, or the mothers, do; indeed they are present with infants and have the care of them, yea, they are even present with them in the maternal womb, as I was told, and are solicitous in caring for their nourishment; thus they preside over the womb during gestation (Spiritual Diary 1201).
Is There an Angelic Protection of Infants in the Womb?
Key Concept: Through celestial angels the Lord cares for the feeding and development of infants in the womb (Arcana Coelestia 5052).
The Lord insinuates conjugial love through the inmost heaven, the angels of which are in peace beyond all others. Peace in the heavens may be compared to springtime in the world, which renders all things joyous, for in its origin peace is essentially celestial. The angels of the inmost heaven are the wisest of all, and from their innocence they appear to others as infants, for they love infants much more than do their fathers and mothers. They are present with infants in the womb, and through them the Lord cares for the feeding and full development of the infants therein; thus they have charge over those who are with child (Arcana Coelestia 5052).
There are also kidneys called the subsidiary kidneys, or renal capsules. Their function is to secrete not so much the serum as the blood itself, and to transmit the purer blood toward the heart by a short circuit, and thus prevent the spermatic vessels, which are near, from carrying off all the purer blood. But these organs perform their main work in embryos, and also in newborn infants. It is chaste virgins who constitute this province in the Grand Man: prone to anxieties, and fearful of being disturbed, they lie quiet at the lower left side of the body. If there is any thought about heaven, or about a change of their state, they become anxious and sigh, as I have several times been given plainly to feel. When I was led to think about infants, they felt great comfort and inward joy, which they frankly confessed; and when there was any thought that had nothing heavenly in it, they were distressed. Their anxiety comes chiefly from their being prone to keep their thoughts fixed on one subject, and not to dispel anxious feelings by variety. The reason why they belong to this province is that in this way they keep another's lower mind fixed on certain thoughts, the result being that such things arise and show themselves as cohere in a series, and as are to be drawn away, or from which the man is to be purified. In this way also interior things lie in plainer view to the angels; for when such things as obscure and turn away the thoughts are removed, there results a clearer insight and influx (Arcana Coelestia 5391).
It is by means of the inmost heaven that the Lord insinuates love truly conjugial, the beginning and origin of which is from the inmost heaven; it then [proceeds] through the medium of the lower heavens. Hence also comes storge, for the celestial angels of the inmost heaven love infants far more than the parents, or the mothers, do; indeed they are present with infants and have the care of them, yea, they are even present with them in the maternal womb, as I was told, and are solicitous in caring for their nourishment; thus they preside over the womb during gestation (Spiritual Diary 1201).(BACK)